Temp and smells associated with rat breeding

So I understand there will a smell of sorts with rat breeding... that is not my issues or concern to an extent....

but it I do understand with summer heat coming that there will be an elevated smell due to water consumption, poo, and urin during these times....

what i I would like to discuss is how to combat this when it does happen....

i have ave been thinking ideas as to how to deal with this, seeing that lowering the temp in my garage is an option as well as keeping the air moving.... I am located in central Ky so I know I will have to have air moving with peak summer heat..... for those of y’all that have the same kind of weather or constant hot humid weather, what do you do?

I have two windows in my garage and have thought about an ac window unit with a mix of vent fans depending on peak temps for the time of year. But come peak summer, having an AC unit plus a vent fan to pump out seems counter intuitive.... but come early summer two window fans to create circulation wouldn’t be a bad idea and easy on the electric bill.....

what are your your tires and true methods?


Ps: I know cleaning will have to ramp up and that’s ok, I already clean a few times a week and the only smell I have is the bedding currently

The key is an exhaust fan :gj:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

The key is an exhaust fan :gj:

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Ok so go the exhaust fan route, how much air would you say I need to be pumping out? I figured I’d lock my garage door open 1-1 1/2 open then pump air out thought the windows. So do you have a recommendation as to how much air I should be moving?

An exhaust fan will cost you too much money, you are moving out all the heated / cooled air. I have rats in my basement and there's not a smell at all. Use a box fan with a couple layers of carbon filter pad, use Air Wick filters, the plug in type, and change out your rat bedding every 5 days. Be sure to spray down the inside of tubs with bleach water and rinse and dry when changing out bedding. Also be sure to take out the trash / old bedding when cleaning up. Also, be sure to check for dead rats if you do smell something foul. One dead rat can smell up the whole house. Also, use plenty of bedding, at least a couple inches in each tub. I found that Cypress Mulch keeps the longest with the least amount of smell, it will last up to 7-10 days, but it's a lot more expensive than other options. I just found a 'screened pine' bedding from a local feed store that is cheap and seems to be working well. doesn't last as long as the cypress so I change it out every five days. If you overload your tubs you may need to change it out more frequently, with fewer rats less often. I have 50 tubs of rats and mice and can't smell them unless I go past seven days without cleaning. I visited the rodent room at the pet store, the smell was unbearable. I'm guessing they didn't spray bleach in their tubs between bedding changes and probably overloaded their tubs.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

An exhaust fan will cost you too much money, you are moving out all the heated / cooled air. I have rats in my basement and there's not a smell at all. Use a box fan with a couple layers of carbon filter pad, use Air Wick filters, the plug in type, and change out your rat bedding every 5 days. Be sure to spray down the inside of tubs with bleach water and rinse and dry when changing out bedding. Also be sure to take out the trash / old bedding when cleaning up. Also, be sure to check for dead rats if you do smell something foul. One dead rat can smell up the whole house. Also, use plenty of bedding, at least a couple inches in each tub. I found that Cypress Mulch keeps the longest with the least amount of smell, it will last up to 7-10 days, but it's a lot more expensive than other options. I just found a 'screened pine' bedding from a local feed store that is cheap and seems to be working well. doesn't last as long as the cypress so I change it out every five days. If you overload your tubs you may need to change it out more frequently, with fewer rats less often. I have 50 tubs of rats and mice and can't smell them unless I go past seven days without cleaning. I visited the rodent room at the pet store, the smell was unbearable. I'm guessing they didn't spray bleach in their tubs between bedding changes and probably overloaded their tubs.

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i figured cooling then pumping out the air is dumb, just one of the many ideas that i am spit balling.... as for pumping to air though this is in a garage... no central air ever reaches the garage, i just happened to pick up some window units for other rooms so i dont have to load down my hole house to a chill 65 degrees LOL

this carbon filter pad and box fan idea... thats on point, i did that with crickets and it didnt last long (was tired of them escaping lol). what filters do you use? i bought stupid small ones for a computer fan.... also pumping air out of the garage due to no central air isn't a problem to keep it flowing...... and the plug ins are a great idea as well. also how often are those carbon filter being changed?

trash and bedding is Always taken out no matter what lol i am a clean freak when it come to this because of smells.....

spraying bleach/water mix.... currently i am using a brown listerine/water mix, should i move to bleach with this, i just use that mix because if some IS left in by mistake, it wont hurt the rats/snakes/animals in my house (and it does wonders with the retic after his business lol)

over loading tubs, this is double edge lol i hope i can over load the grow out tubs but at the same time i hope i am moving them just as fast selling lol.

I'll tell you now what some people think as "no smell" totally stinks to others. I can't stand smelling rodents and I breed rats. I can tell you you will smell them after just a couple of days changing litter. Scented candles or plug-ins will NOT help. Instead you end up with a flowery flavored smelling piss. Thats even nastier.
You need to circulate air period. The exhaust fan is the best idea possible. You can simply install one in a piece of plywood and put it in the garage window if you can keep the Rats close to it, it will work. Then open another wondow far from them. Circulating air will also keep the heat down during summer. As far as winter I don't have any recommendation for you except you'll have to heat the Garage.


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Kept my shed in the mid 60s with A/C and not using too much pine flake in the tubs helped a lot.
There will always be a smell.

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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

I'll tell you now what some people think as "no smell" totally stinks to others. I can't stand smelling rodents and I breed rats. I can tell you you will smell them after just a couple of days changing litter. Scented candles or plug-ins will NOT help. Instead you end up with a flowery flavored smelling piss. Thats even nastier.
You need to circulate air period. The exhaust fan is the best idea possible. You can simply install one in a piece of plywood and put it in the garage window if you can keep the Rats close to it, it will work. Then open another wondow far from them. Circulating air will also keep the heat down during summer. As far as winter I don't have any recommendation for you except you'll have to heat the Garage.


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the garage is heated currently and i have been able to maintain warmer temps in 10 degree weather. As for circulating air I plan on doing that, I am going to get some window fan units to pull in and pump out, unfortunately I will not be able to have them set up right next to them. But I will have another box fan going with some carbon filets on it. I found some online at a decent price, so I will be bulk ordering them

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Kept my shed in the mid 60s with A/C and not using too much pine flake in the tubs helped a lot.
There will always be a smell.

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No I understand there will always BE a smell no matter what I do, like I missed cleaning yesterday and the smell is starting to surface more, but I put yesterday’s cleaning off due to more tubs coming in the mail and my watering system, so I plan to clean and set that up tomorrow

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Originally Posted by Scherf

the garage is heated currently and i have been able to maintain warmer temps in 10 degree weather. As for circulating air I plan on doing that, I am going to get some window fan units to pull in and pump out, unfortunately I will not be able to have them set up right next to them. But I will have another box fan going with some carbon filets on it. I found some online at a decent price, so I will be bulk ordering them

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Save yourself the money I bought boxes of carbon filters because I was told they work.. It absolutely did nothing.


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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

Save yourself the money I bought boxes of carbon filters because I was told they work.. It absolutely did nothing.


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Well that’s depressing.... hell I was going to get actual industrial filters 😂😂😂

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Originally Posted by Scherf

Well that’s depressing.... hell I was going to get actual industrial filters [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

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That's what I bought.. if you want to try one then go ahead and buy one but don't buy in bulk like I did.. The only way I found it might work is if you're keeping rats in a glass aquarium with a screened lid & lay the carbon filter over the top of the screen lid.. But honestly not worth it i found. I clean every weekend and thats the best I can do besides trying to limit the breeding to a minimum.


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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

That's what I bought.. if you want to try one then go ahead and buy one but don't buy in bulk like I did.. The only way I found it might work is if you're keeping rats in a glass aquarium with a screened lid & lay the carbon filter over the top of the screen lid.. But honestly not worth it i found. I clean every weekend and thats the best I can do besides trying to limit the breeding to a minimum.


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Ok good to know.... I may try one then and see how it goes.... I just cannot believe how expensive just one 20x20x5 filter is....

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Originally Posted by Scherf

Ok good to know.... I may try one then and see how it goes.... I just cannot believe how expensive just one 20x20x5 filter is....

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That's my point they're really not worth it and as soon as the charcoal evaporates you have to buy a new one. Putting a fan in the window will do the same thing you don't need a filter the filters are used if you don't have ventilation. Then people put them on a fan and circulate the air in the room.


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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

That's my point they're really not worth it and as soon as the charcoal evaporates you have to buy a new one. Putting a fan in the window will do the same thing you don't need a filter the filters are used if you don't have ventilation. Then people put them on a fan and circulate the air in the room.


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OK, so your method would be to vent the room and circulate it at the same time? I just want to clarify so that I can get the two window fan units.. I already have a box fan so I am
good there....

soo i have found a fan that i will go with, I believe with this one fan I will be good instead of getting two cheaper fans.

This is the fan: https://www.build.com/air-king-9155/s380181?uid=558110

it is made by air king and will move ~2400 CFM and my garage is 2000 cubic feet so this at its lowest setting will move more than enough air.

Try this carbon filter pad:

https://www.filtersfast.com/mobile/P...bon-Filter.asp

i wish you could see and smell my rat room, there is almot no smell at all and I have hundreds of rats. Every other rat room I visit has a horrible smell, not exactly sure what they are doing wrong, and most even have a fan vent to the outside... For the carbon I usually use it four layers deep and change it every couple months, I just vacuum off the dust every week. I do know that if I turn off my carbon filter the whole room has a bad smell within minutes, maybe it's the carbon pads I'm using. They cost me about $6 per month.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Try this carbon filter pad:

https://www.filtersfast.com/mobile/P...bon-Filter.asp

i wish you could see and smell my rat room, there is almot no smell at all and I have hundreds of rats. Every other rat room I visit has a horrible smell, not exactly sure what they are doing wrong, and most even have a fan vent to the outside... For the carbon I usually use it four layers deep and change it every couple months, I just vacuum off the dust every week. I do know that if I turn off my carbon filter the whole room has a bad smell within minutes, maybe it's the carbon pads I'm using. They cost me about $6 per month.

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When you say 4 layers deep, how big is the fan you put these on?

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Originally Posted by Scherf

OK, so your method would be to vent the room and circulate it at the same time? I just want to clarify so that I can get the two window fan units.. I already have a box fan so I am
good there....

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No im saying just vent it.. As far as the Filter that is another method I've heard people use that cant vent for whatever reason.. I did biy the filters as I told you from
As far as that fan, if never spend $90 on one until I new this was something I was going to stick with. I have a double window fan that was $22 at walmart. Works fine in a situation where you have 2 windows so your pulling in clean air and exiting the old air.
I bought the filter like cchardwick recommended but they were a pain in the butt for me and really didn't work in my situation. I try to breed the cheapest way possible because I'm only feeding a couple snakes, any more cost ends up wasting money to the point i could buy them and save myself the work & aggravation. I only do this because i don't like the underfed, unhealthy rats at the pet stores.



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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

No im saying just vent it.. As far as the Filter that is another method I've heard people use that cant vent for whatever reason.. I did biy the filters as I told you from
As far as that fan, if never spend $90 on one until I new this was something I was going to stick with. I have a double window fan that was $22 at walmart. Works fine in a situation where you have 2 windows so your pulling in clean air and exiting the old air.
I bought the filter like cchardwick recommended but they were a pain in the butt for me and really didn't work in my situation. I try to breed the cheapest way possible because I'm only feeding a couple snakes, any more cost ends up wasting money to the point i could buy them and save myself the work & aggravation. I only do this because i don't like the underfed, unhealthy rats at the pet stores.



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ok, thanks for the heads up on how much to spend on a fan.... I really didn’t know how much air needed to be moved and I was thinking over kill it probably would be best for smell lol

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Originally Posted by Scherf

ok, thanks for the heads up on how much to spend on a fan.... I really didn’t know how much air needed to be moved and I was thinking over kill it probably would be best for smell lol

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I like the small double fan as the window closes most of the way and it fits Left to Right helping with blow back. I dont know why my other post is missing the name I typed in but i was saying when i tried the filters i biught those industrial ones like cchardwick suggested.. It just wasnt good for my situation. He breeds a lot of rats.. Im just a small breeder for my own use.


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I finally set up an exhaust fan with a carbon filter attached. Have fan set to a timer and I will say it helps alot. Pic is my mock up using string to hold the filter. I have since replaced that with flat bungee cords.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...329a6ebc0b.jpg

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When I raised a "zillion" rats, mice & hamsters, I lived in the desert southwest, so not everything I did will apply to you, in a humid state. In the desert
"swamp coolers" work well & cheaply, but I wanted to keep the house air separate from the garage where the rodents were raised. It was a huge (4+++)
car garage, & I had a separate swamp cooler installed on the garage, with 4 "up-ducts" to vent the warm ratty-air up up & away...:cool: I'll be honest, I'd
never heard of "up-ducts" before the tech suggested them...got one in all four corners of the ceiling; they only open with the push of air when the swamp
cooler kicks on, & my swamper was on a thermostat...something else you don't always see. It was a thing of beauty...it worked so well.